Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Does Oregon have a law allowing students to skip math for Bible instruction? PolitiFact Oregon

Travel_Trip_5_Free_Things_Austin.1.jpg

"The Friendly Atheist," an Internet blogger, claims Oregon has a law that lets school kids "skip math" to get religious instruction. Is he right? Do you have concerns, leads to steer our fact check? Let us know at PolitiFact Oregon.
(Thomas McConnell/Associated Press)

The blogger, Hemant Mehta, saw a recent Oregonian story about students in the Banks School District who are released, with permission, for weekly off-site religious instruction.

Mehta’s claim is this: “In Oregon, students are skipping math class to learn about the Bible.”

We are digging up as much information as possible, focusing on whether such a law exists (this is really the easy part of Mehta’s claim) and whether students are “skipping math class” in doing so.

Before we get too far along, we wanted to ask readers for thoughts, leads or concerns on the topic. As we will note in our fact-check, issues of religious freedom are dominating the news these days and will likely continue to do so.

So weigh in now with your views. Should public-school students be released for a portion of each week to receive off-site religious instruction? If so, do you have concerns that they could end up missing valuable class time, including in math?

Let us know here. We will pursue all leads and give you a heads-up about exactly when our PolitiFact Oregon check will be ready for prime time.